War
Three simple letters
Honey on the lips of some
Bile on a lot of others
It is a good thing
A necessary evil
Even if you consider it a tool of the devil
War and the threat of war is why
You have the luxury of wallowing
In the peace sink
At the breast of war you effortlessly drink
While you scoff at the warrior who
Feeds you, clothe you and when asked to…
Dies to protect you
Without hesitation

It was war
Ugly, bloody, uncompromising war
That gave us this great nation
The doves pleading for peace are not threatened
They are “fat” and comfy in their dens
What made them you ask?
The fruits of war my friend

Let them ever be in danger of losing
Their casual comfortableness, everything
They take for granted now
The very right to say why, when or how
Let them arise and find the next despicable despot
Rapping at the front door
Children crying, hiding under the wooden floor
Their dreams crashing and burning
No access to higher learning
They are fearless, boisterous these doves,
Basking in the forgotten shadow of mighty warriors past
Ingrates!
Remove that invisible umbrella
And watch the roaches, as they scurry for the cellar

The vast majority feasting off the fat of the land
Blinded by avarice
Their bibs soiled with hypocrisy
Unwilling to sacrifice a single dirty hand
The one that will keep them free
Everybody wants protection
And anybody else can die for it but me
From all corners they come
Scrounging off the eagle
Escaping from every class of struggle
Sure we have issues and you have to bust your ass
But the opportunity is always here
If you try and try hard you can hit green grass
Yet they can afford to criticize
The eagle is this and the eagle is that
Pointing out every dirty flaw
Blatantly ignoring the stash in their bloated craw

If you don't like it here then leave
Relocate to the desert or perhaps get 
Some red on your sleeve
Get a little perspective benedict
This is the best and you are exploiting it
Time and time again
Why?
The fruits of war my friend

Everybody is a psychologist
They hate us so we must be doing 
something wrong
Paying the dues for some misguided administration
Lets grovel, pull a Freud
Try to understand
The reason why they slaughter our fellowman
Jealousy?
Envy?
You represent something they will never be
You didn't wake up to this overnight
It's your system and generations of backbreaking
labor, that got you inside the spotlight
It's not your fault their corrupt leaders are wealthy
Not your fault most of them are in abject poverty
Not your fault, their ignorance
Not your fault, their intolerance
You're not the one shoveling them a load of crap
Not the reason why they can only view the real world 
From behind a camouflaged wall
Not your fault they have become the pawns
of fanatical men with grandiose dreams and
A false connection to their god
Pining for the power and the glory they once had
It's easy to blame you and me
Apparently their dictionary doesn't include
Responsibility
Nobody had more love than Gandhi

You can find a plausible reason for everything
And you don't have to be wrong to get hurt
But you will continue get punished
If you stick your head in the dirt
Bodies in the ground and the executioner
With a smoking gun in his hand
The peace train is long gone
War
It's the only language, they all understand

There is inherent evil inside us all
Your good intentions
Won't protect you when you fall
It is the very nature of man
If he doesn't have or wants
He'll take it from the weak
To make himself strong
So somewhere sometime
Someone will come along
And you can preach till you drop
If he has an axe, he will chop
Where is the Dalai Lama and all that Zen?
Give it up and go into exile
Throw away your culture
Embrace another lifestyle?
I don't think so
What do you do then?
On all fronts perceptible and imperceptible 
War
It's the final solution my friend

So the innocent sometimes die
The innocent and the guilty sometimes suffer and cry
It's how every species survived on this planet
Law of the jungle damn it!
No matter how far you think you've come
It's the price of freedom
You've spent so much time on that
Intellectual high horse
Blowing “me” smoke
While Joe blow mows your grass
Perhaps it's time you got up close and personal
Reality check!
With the real cost of your survival

When is it okay Mr. Peacenik
For us to pick up that “big stick”?
After the buildings fall?
After the writing has been painted on the wall?
After the poison has flowed?
After the blood has been whitewashed from the road
Funny, how you never show
When the warriors prove how little you do know

It's utopia you're searching for
Won't find it in my lifetime or yours
It's a pipe dream
A pontifical scheme
Peace is not a birthright
It is a goddamn luxury!
Enjoyed by the fierce and the mighty
Peace works on it's own 
When they recognize
The high price of waging death 
Or remember battles past you should
Never forget
But you have zero credibility as a negotiator
If the foe doesn't respect your ability
To deliver…
War

So shout and march all you want
It may be bloody and glory
If the house crumbles
You'll be bawling a different story
Woe be unto you and yours if the
Warrior wakes up with the enemy
Knocking on his head-board
Naked and vulnerable with peace
Scrawled on his sword
The game by then will be over
The protectors all dead and guess
Who's left to suffer?

It's one thing to keep the public informed
Quite another to risk the life of your 
Brother in a race for ratings and other
Material things
Those self-righteous traitors!
Broadcasting the so called news
Walking among your sworn enemy
Willing spreading his propagandist views
I know it's wrong to wish that they all simply 
Fall into hell
But I won't shed a tear
If some names are written on the next errant shell
Yes sometimes it's abused
But as long as men will
Continue to emulate the devil
It will remain always a necessary evil
So reserve the right to be a caustic critic
And pray that the hawk never abandons
his love of the “big stick”
The alternative to war and the threat
Of war my misguided dove-like friend
Is not peace, but a million irreparable pieces times ten

It's the madness behind everything that you are
No peace only pieces 
Without 
War

War And Pieces

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